MediaGoblin contributor drawings
#published 2011-12-30 16:21
#author Christopher Allan Webber

<p>Happy Holidays and a happy upcoming new year from the MediaGoblin
team!  Today I kick off something I've been planning for a while.
Contributor drawings!</p>

<p class="blog_image">
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/machalus-duke-of-time/"
     ><img src="/blog_images/contributor_drawing_machalus.png"
           alt="Contributor drawing: Machalus, Duke of Time" /></a>
  <br />
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/machalus-duke-of-time/"
     >Machalus, Duke of Time</a>.
  Contributor drawing for Matt Lee.  Thanks, Matt!
</p>

<p>This is the first contributor drawing I made, near the start of the
project.  It's been my intention since nearly the beginning to do
artwork to thank various contributors for their hard work on the
project.  Recently I took the time to make several more:</p>

<p class="blog_image">
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/x11r25-robot/"
     ><img src="/blog_images/contributor_drawing_robot.png"
           alt="Contributor drawing X11R25 Robot" /></a>
  <br />
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/x11r25-robot/"
     >X11R25 robot</a>.  Contributor drawing for Caleb Davis.  Thanks, Caleb!
</p>

<p class="blog_image">
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/shaquannah/"
     ><img src="/blog_images/contributor_drawing_shaquannah.png"
           alt="Contributor drawing: Shaquannah" /></a>
  <br />
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/shaquannah/">Shaquannah</a>,
  a magician of arts.
  Contributor drawing for Karen Rustad.  Thanks, Karen!
</p>

<p class="blog_image">
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/spencer/"
     ><img src="/blog_images/contributor_drawing_spencer.png"
           alt="Contributor drawing: Spencer" /></a>
  <br />
  <a href="http://mediagoblin.com/u/cwebber/m/spencer/">Spencer</a>,
  a punkish goblin of sorts.
  Contributor drawing for Joar Wandborg.  Thanks, Joar!<br />
  (Note, I don't endorse smoking, even if Spencer does it!)
</p>

<p>If all goes well, I'll be making more and more of these for various
contributors for various types of contributions.  I think this could
be a nice way to incentivize contributions (somewhat along the lines
of the famous Knuth checks), but more importantly, to both give me a
way to thank various people who have significantly helped the project
and as a way for me to find an excuse to unwind a bit and spend some
time on my artwork.</p>

<p>I'll put more formally what to expect about contributor drawings
<a href="http://wiki.mediagoblin.org/Contributor_drawings">on the
wiki</a>, but here are the basic rules of it to keep things
interesting both for contributors and myself... nothing too formal,
but:</p>

<p>
  <ul>
    <li>
      Originally, I intended to do these as incentivization for people
      to do copyright assignments to the FSF, but it turns out that
      optional copyright assignments are not presently an option with
      the FSF, it's all or nothing.  So all you have to do to be
      eligible is to do some significant work on MediaGoblin.
    </li>

    <li>
      Don't contact me, I'll contact you and let you know if I'm
      thinking of making a drawing for you.
    </li>

    <li>
      To keep things from becoming a chore, drawings are not "made to
      order".  You can't tell me precisely what you want in a drawing,
      I'd really like a lot of freedom here.  But I'll probably give
      you a choice between a couple of themes.  Right now I'm doing
      "unique creature" or "a brand new goblin".  The themes might
      change at some point.  I'll let you know.
    </li>

    <li>
      The drawings are not made for you, but they will
      be <i>dedicated</i> to you.  The drawing will not be intended to
      represent you... I might draw some sort of miscreant, and I
      don't want you to be offended thinking I'm insulting you.  If I
      worry about that stuff, I'll spend too much time worrying about
      it and then my artwork will become terribly bland.  (However, I
      might think of what sort of drawing you might like while making
      it, of course.)
    </li>

    <li>
      When the drawing is done I'll email it to you and you can tell
      me if you like it or not and whether or not you're willing to
      have this drawing be dedicated to you.  If so, great!  If not,
      oh well, I'll dedicate it to someone else or possibly just post
      it without any dedication.
    </li>

    <li>
      Lastly, I'm doing this for fun, so hopefully it will be fun!
      I'll do these as time permits, and I don't know how much that
      will be.  Don't be offended if you've done quite a bit and I
      haven't gotten to you yet... I probably intend to.  I hope this
      ends up being something enjoyable for everyone, and a nice way
      for me to combine a bit of artistic release with a community
      that I care about deeply.
    </li>
  </ul>
</p>

<p>
  If it stops being fun, I'll stop doing the drawings, but I suspect
  that won't happen for some time.  In the meanwhile, hopefully I can
  put up some fun stuff, and people will enjoy it! 
</p>
